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| Friday, 5 November 2004 |
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Broadening the discourse on peace and security by Prof. Asoka Bandarage (Excerpts of a Talk presented at a session sponsored by The Society for International Development, Washington Chapter on September 23, 2004. The talk was attended by many policymakers and practitioners from the diplomatic, academic, NGO and state sectors in Washington D.C.)
There is a massive and growing opposition to the ISGA proposals. A large demonstration was held just yesterday. I think to understand this opposition we have to go beyond the simplistic critique of this opposition as constituting Sinhala chauvinism. It is important to look at what the LTTE as an organization stands for and the social and demographic reasons for opposition to the ISGA proposal on the part of large number of people and groups. If we look at the map of the north we see a Tamil majority, but, the creation of this absolute majority involved a process of ethnic cleansing of Sinhalese and Muslims who had lived there historically for centuries. But, in the Eastern province, the Tamils are not a majority; there is a much more complicated picture. The LTTE did not allow the 2001 census to be carried out so there is no accurate population estimates. I too am using the 1981 estimates. Roughly the Sinhala, the Tamils and the Muslims each constitute about one third of the population each in the eastern province. The Sinhalese own the 50% of the land. In the Eastern province, there are extensive Buddhist heritage sites, in fact, all over the north and eastern provinces. These are threatened if an exclusive Tamil regime is brought into power in the north and the east. Communal tensions Moreover, because of the way communities are dispersed in the eastern province, the Tamils and the Muslim populations living contiguously along the coast line, for example, it would be very difficult to create a merger of the north and the east. Trincomalee district which brings the north and the east together has a Sinhala plurality. Because the different ethnic groups are distributed in a 'sandwich' like pattern, it would be extremely difficult to create an exclusively Tamil regime. There are areas where Sri Lankan Tamils are the majority like in Batticaloa, but, there are certain areas where the Muslims are the majority and there are areas like Ampara which is predominantly Sinhala. And then, within these areas there are pockets where another ethnic group has a plurality. The fact of the matter is that for thousands of years and even now, the different Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim groups have been living side by side and for much of that time there has been mutual co-existence and harmony. In fact, it is the war that has exacerbated communal tensions. So, the artificial creation of a primordial ethno-nationalist state could lead to balkanization and population transfer and ethnic cleansing which are already happening Opposition to LTTE regime So, there is a lot of opposition to a Tamil LTTE led regime even not only in the east, but, also in the north from where many thousands of Muslims were ousted by the LTTE. There have been skirmishes between the LTTE and the Muslims during the course of ceasefire and these have led to a Muslim demand for a separate administrative unit of their own in the east. Something called the Oduvil Declaration was issued by some Muslim groups last year to that effect. And there is also some signs of the internationalization of the Muslim struggle apparently with increasing Muslims visitors from other part of the world. British journalist Paul Harris (incidentally, his visa to remain in Sri Lanka was not renewed by the previous government) has painted a possible future scenario of a struggle between of the LTTE and Islamic fundamentalism in Sri Lanka. But, right now the greatest opposition to the LTTE comes from Tamils themselves, the dissident Tamil groups. Groups such as the EPDP are feeling desperate. Just a few days ago after an EPDP leader was killed, the EPDP organized a demonstration in front of the Norwegian embassy in Colombo and left the dead body of their assassinated leader in the coffin right in front of the embassy gate. They are asking why the Norwegian facilitators and the international community are not taking a stand against the massive human rights violations that are going on. The university teachers for Human Rights, that is also a Tamil group, that used to operate in Jaffna but are now in Colombo, have produced report after report about the child recruitment, killing of dissidents and other violations of human rights and democratic norms. Tamil representative The LTTE is the 'sole representative of Tamils', this is the false premise that is unfortunately accepted by the international community and upon which the Sri Lanka peace process is built. Just the break up of LTTE into two factions: the Northern faction and the the Eastern faction in Batticaloa alone shows the falsity of the LTTE's claim of the sole representation. It is an anti-democratic premise and it is obviously dangerous to build a peace process on it. Despite its pronouncement at the Oslo conference, the LTTE has not given up its struggle for Eelam, and it is likely that if the ISGA proposal or something very close to it is accepted, it is unlikely that it would bring peace, but, rather border wars, population transfers, balkanization and a state of anarchy. Annexation of districts There is also fear and some of it is justified that the creation of an exclusive, Tamil totalitarian regime in the north and east could also result in the annexation of districts in the central province, such as, Nuwara Eliya and Badulla where Indian Tamils are a plurality today. The sources of the water for the north and the east come from the central hill country. That water is necessary for ecological survival. And as many Indian analysts have also pointed out the creation of an exclusive Tamil regime in the north and east of Sri Lanka would have very great implications for sovereignty and security of India particularly South India where over 60 million ethnic Tamils live. It would also have very serious international implications given alleged ties of the LTTE to other terrorist organizations. International defense analysts are in fact pointing out that the LTTE represents the prototype of terrorism in the 21st century. Indeed, the suicide bomb pack and the Sri Lankan airport attack and other initiatives of the LTTE have been copied by terrorist organizations elsewhere. Possible solutions So, let me just mention some possible solutions before I open this up for discussion. As I see it there are two broad positions with regard to the Sri Lanka peace process. On the one hand, we have the 'peace at any cost approach' which is currently supported by the international community, the various peace NGOs that work within the country and outside. This position is guided by the necessity to keep the LTTE in the peace process, maintain the ceasefire and continue peace process. On the other hand, there is a belief that the LTTE will never give up the demand for Eelam and terrorism and only armed war and victory can bring a peace, that is, victory over the LTTE. This position may underlie the increasing demand that Norwegians go home and that the country be freed from undue international meddling. These seem to be the two positions. But, I think that we have to look at a middle ground based on an analysis that goes beyond the primordial dualism which informs both these positions. We have to move beyond the dualism of the Sinhala as the oppressor and the Tamil as the victim or vice versa. We have to develop an analysis that recognize the suffering and the grievances of all the communities and a position that is committed to finding the just and democratic approach to peace for all. We need to be talking about peace with democracy, human rights, political pluralism and justice rather than 'peace at any cost' or war. The international community has been putting a lot of pressure on the Sri Lankan government as I said before, even threatening aid cut-off. But, I think the international community needs to put much more pressure on the LTTE to uphold democratic norms and human rights. Specific solutions This was agreed upon at the Tokyo peace conference last year. In the Declaration that was signed there, there is specific stipulation with regard to respecting human rights, stopping child recruitment and honoring democratic process. Here, the roles of the USA and India are extremely important to make these stipulations go beyond words and to lay down specific conditions. With regard to other specific solutions, I am just going to share some ideas that different analysts have put forward in the course of the ongoing debate and discourse. One suggestion is that there should be a referendum in the eastern province in order to know what the people in the eastern province want. This is long overdue. There is another suggestion put forward by Indian legal scholars that there should be a clause in the Sri Lankan constitution which dismisses any attempt at cession by any future regime along the line of a similar clause in the Indian constitution which dismisses any attempted cession. Another idea which is very important is the necessity for a bill of rights and certain constitutional provisions in Sri Lanka for minority protection. In spite of the war and all that has transpired over the last 20 years or so these has not been attended to. It is also really important to have an international initiative for the protection of heritage sites in the north and the east because they are not only the heritage sites of Sri Lanka but world heritage sites. You know how the Buddhist statues the enormous statues in Bamian in Afghanistan were blown up. In Sri Lanka's north and east, there are incredible sacred structures, not only statues, but temples and other archeological sites that need to be protected. There has to be international attention before they disappear quickly. It is important to emphasize the role of the Diaspora, the Sri Lankan Diaspora. The Diaspora which has contributed to the war by sending money and moral support needs to re-evaluate its positions, broaden its perspective. Members from different ethnic groups really need to work together to look at the common problems facing the different groups. Do not ignore responsibilities I know it sounds like wishful thinking. We can't ignore our responsibility and leave the task of change up to others. We can't simply try to focus on our individual lives. There is no escape from the broader physical and economical realities of the world, they effect all our lives. We face a common struggle for human dignity and freedom around the world and we each have to make a greater efforts to safeguard peace and democracy in Sri Lanka and elsewhere before it is too late. And I think that every telephone call and every letter makes a difference. There is a role each person can play regardless of where we are placed within the global social order. Yes, compassion is important, but, compassion alone is not sufficient I think it has to come with wisdom and awareness of what is really happening in Sri Lanka as well as in the world. |
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